Wael Shawky's Drama 1882 (re)stages a colonial conflict laden with treason and exploitation as a libretto across eight chapters and 45 hypnotic minutes, invoking questions of colonialism, collaboration, resistance, narrative, history, and, of course, drama.

One of the leading Egyptian artists of his generation, Wael Shawky has repeatedly employed elements of performance, sculpture, and film to interrogate key moments and attendant gaps in his region's history, including the acclaimed Cabaret Crusades series (2010-2015). His latest triumph, a luminous, mesmerizing highlight of this year's Venice Biennale, Drama 1882 (re)stages a conflict laden with treason and exploitation as a libretto across eight chapters and 45 hypnotic minutes.

Centred on the intrigue of the self-made Colonel Ahmed Urabi and his efforts to oppose British imperialists, the film explores not just the dynamics between competing armies, but among the Egyptian soldiers themselves, as well as the brutality those with power are willing to exert to maintain their hold.

A fraught rebellion preceded by a mythic café fight, the Urabi uprising of 1879 to 1882 was crushed, resulting in the colonial occupation of Egypt until 1956. With a plot that extends from Cairo to Malta, but all shot on an Alexandrian sound stage designed like a painting come to life, the piece - directed, choreographed, and composed by Shawky himself - invokes questions of colonialism, collaboration, resistance, narrative, and history.

Sung entirely in classical Arabic by professional performers, with sensational costumes and expressionist sets, photography, and colours - so much glorious pink - Drama 1882 is equally transfixing and timely.

Originally staged as a musical play, the filmed rendition not only explores notions of revisionist history and cautions about the futility of war, but also probes the implications of drama itself, which, according to Shawky, "conjures a sense of entertainment, of catastrophe, and our inherent doubt in history."

ANDRÉA PICARD & JESSE CUMMING

Film by Wael Shawky,
Selected for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2024